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Acts 3 — Commentary 4

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Benson Commentary Acts 3:1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour . Acts 3:1 . Now Peter and John, &c. — We are not informed when the fact here recorded took place; but it is probable it was during the days of the feast of pentecost, and while the city was still full of people; went up to the temple — Probably to seek an opportunity of preaching to the people, as well as to offer up their prayers and supplications there before God; at the ninth hour — One of the solemn hours of prayer. The Jews divided the time, from sunrise to sunset, into twelve hours; which were consequently of unequal length at different times of the year, as the days were longer or shorter. The third hour, therefore, was nine in the morning; the ninth three in the afternoon, but not exactly. For the third was the middle space between sunrise and noon; which, if the sun rose at five, (the earliest hour of its rising in that climate,) was half an hour after eight; if at seven, (the latest hour of its rising there,) was half an hour after nine. The chief hours of prayer were the third and ninth; at which seasons the morning and evening sacrifices were offered, and incense (a kind of emblem representing prayer) burnt on the golden altar. Acts 3:2 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Acts 3:2 . And a certain man — Well known, it appears, by those who frequented the temple; lame from his mother’s womb, was carried — Thither by the help of others, being unable to walk, through a weakness in his ankles; whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, called Beautiful — This gate, which was between the court of the Gentiles and that of Israel, and is here called Beautiful, for the richness of the metal of which it was formed, and its curious workmanship, is termed by Josephus the Corinthian gate. About one hundred and eighty years before this, the city of Corinth had been taken and burned by the Romans; and in the burning of it multitudes of statues and images of brass, gold, and silver, being melted down and running together, made that mixture of metals, which, from that time, was called Corinthian brass, and was valued, by the ancients, above gold or silver. This gate, on the east side of the temple, was made of that brass, and exceeded the other gates, as in its dimensions, so especially in its workmanship and splendour, though most of them were covered over with silver or gold. It was thirty cubits high, and fifteen broad, and was added by Herod the Great. Acts 3:3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. Acts 3:3-8 . Who, seeing Peter and John, asked an alms — As it seems he did of all who entered in at the gate where he sat begging: an alms was the utmost he expected from them or any others. And Peter, fastening his eyes on him, with John — That is, looking steadfastly at him, feeling, doubtless, a strong emotion of soul, which intimated to him that the divine power would be exerted in working an illustrious miracle for the further confirmation of the gospel; said, Look on us — This the lame man readily did, expecting to receive something of them — Namely, for the relief of his temporal necessities. Little did he suppose that a much greater blessing was prepared for him. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none — How unlike was Peter to his supposed successor! Can the bishop of Rome either say this, or do what Peter now did? This, we may observe, was after the estates were sold, as mentioned Acts 2:45 , and plainly shows how far the apostles were from enriching themselves by the treasures which passed through their hands. But such as I have give I thee — What is in my power, I willingly impart; and thou shalt find it not less valuable than money. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth — That is, by the power of him who, in contempt, is called, Jesus of Nazareth; rise up and walk — Be immediately and perfectly healed of thy malady. And he took him by the hand — Thereby encouraging him to do as he had said; and lifted him up — In the same name in which he had bid him rise. Not that his doing this could contribute any thing to the lame man’s cure: it was but a sign, intimating the supernatural help that he should receive, if he exerted himself, as he was commanded. When God by his word enjoins us to rise, and walk in the ways of his commandments, if we mix faith with that word, and rely on the power of it, he will give us his Spirit, to take us by the hand, as it were, and lift us up. If we set ourselves to do what we can in dependance on the divine aid, God has promised us his grace to enable us to do what of ourselves we cannot; and by faith in that promise we receive a new nature productive of a new practice: for the grace of God thus received and used shall not be in vain; as it was not here: his feet and ankle-bones received strength — Which would not have been the case if he had not attempted to rise. And he, leaping up — From the place where he lay; stood — In an erect posture, which he had never before been able to do; and walked — Greek, ?????????? , walked about, with strength and steadiness; and entered with them into the temple — Into the court of Israel, there to offer the first-fruits of his thanksgivings, sometimes walking, and sometimes leaping, for joy, and to show that he was perfectly healed; and praising God — In a rapture of astonishment and thankfulness for so wonderful a mercy bestowed upon him. Thus was the prophecy ( Isaiah 35:6 ) remarkably fulfilled, Then shall the lame man leap as a hart. This man, being now newly cured, was in this excess of joy and thankfulness: all true converts walk and praise God; but young converts, perhaps, leap more, as it were, in his praises. Acts 3:4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. Acts 3:5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. Acts 3:7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ancle bones received strength. Acts 3:8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. Acts 3:9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God: Acts 3:9-11 . And all the people — Who were there present; saw him walking — In the court of the temple; and heard him praising God — In this uncommon ecstasy of delight; and they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate, &c. — He had sat there so long, that they all knew him; and for that reason he was chosen to be a vessel of mercy. Now they were not so perverse as to make any doubt whether he was the same man that had sat begging, as the Pharisees had questioned concerning the blind man that Christ cured, John 9:18 ; for they saw him walking and praising God, and probably took notice of a change in his mind, for he was now as loud in praising God, as he had used to be in begging relief. And they were filled with wonder and amazement — Greek, ??????? ??? ????????? , with astonishment and ecstasy; they felt emotions, resembling those of the person healed; at that which had happened to him — At the miracle wrought for him. It is worth observing here, that this effect appears to have been produced by the late effusion of the Spirit; the people, at least those in Jerusalem, were more affected with the miracles which the apostles wrought, than they had been with those of the same kind that had been performed by Christ himself. And as the lame man held Peter and John — Full of gratitude for the great blessing he had received through their instrumentality; and while he walked on between them, sometimes, probably, taking hold of them by the hand; and sometimes embracing them as his great benefactors; all the people — In the neighbouring parts; ran together unto them — Some only to gratify their curiosity with the sight of men that had such power; others, perhaps, with a desire to hear them preach, concluding that the doctrine must needs be of divine origin, which had thus a divine confirmation: in the porch that is called Solomon’s — A spacious and celebrated portico of the temple. See note on John 10:23 . Hither the people flocked to see this great sight. Acts 3:10 And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. Acts 3:11 And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering. Acts 3:12 And when Peter saw it , he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? Acts 3:12-16 . And when Peter saw it — When he saw a crowd of people collected together, and found that they were exceedingly affected with the miracle that had been wrought, he took that favourable opportunity to preach Christ unto them, especially as the temple was the place of their concourse; thus sowing the seed of the gospel in the ground that was broken up and prepared to receive it. Ye men of Israel — To whom miracles surely are not, or at least ought not to be, strange things: having been wrought for you as a nation, in multiplied instances, from age to age, and many very evident and signal ones having, during the last three years, been performed before your eyes; why marvel ye at this — As if it were a singular fact, the like of which you had never seen? Why do you wonder at what has now happened, when so much greater miracles have lately been performed among you? The fact was indeed marvellous, and they justly wondered at it, but it was no more than what Christ had done many a time. It was but a little before that Christ had raised Lazarus from the dead: nay, and he had lately risen from the dead himself; why did they not marvel at these facts, and why were they not convinced by them? Observe, reader, stupid and thoughtless people think that strange now which might have been very familiar to them, if they had not been wanting to themselves, and void of consideration. Or why look ye so earnestly on us — With that astonishment which your looks express, as though by our own power we had effected this cure; or by our own holiness had deserved that God should perform it by us. The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, &c. — This was wisely introduced here in the beginning of his discourse, that it might appear they taught no new religion, inconsistent with that of Moses, and were far from having the least design to divert their regards from the God of Israel; hath glorified his son Jesus — Namely, by this miracle, as he also glorified him in his life and in his death, and especially in his resurrection and ascension; whom — When God had given him to you, and when you ought to have received him as a most precious treasure, and to have preserved him with all your power; ye delivered up — To the Romans as a criminal, and denied — Greek, ????????? , renounced him; in the presence of Pilate — Or, against the face of Pilate, as Dr. Hammond renders it; that is, in defiance of his reasonings with you; when he was determined to let him go — To release him, being fully satisfied he was innocent of the things laid to his charge. But ye denied the Holy One — Whom God had marked out as such; and the Just One — Just even in the judgment of Pilate, declaring that you would not own him as your king, nor even be contented to admit his discharge, when it was offered and pressed upon you by the governor: and desired — With outrageous clamour, one of the most infamous of mankind, a robber, and a murderer, to be granted unto you — To be spared and released. And while you asked for the deliverance of so vile a wretch, you inhumanly and insolently killed the Prince of life — Even him who had life in himself, and was appointed to be the Author of life, spiritual and eternal, and glory, to his followers. Observe the antithesis: You desired a destroyer of life to be released, and Christ the Lord and giver of life to be crucified, as if a murderer had deserved better at your hands than the Saviour! than which a greater affront could not have been put upon him. You did at once a wicked and foolish thing, in taking away his life, who would have been your life and Saviour, thus forsaking and rebelling against your own mercies; and in supposing you could conquer and extinguish in death the Prince of life, who, having life in himself, could soon resume the life he had resigned! Whom God raised — As we know by the certain and repeated testimony of our own senses; and thereby amply vindicated him; whereof we are witnesses — Constituted such by God, in order to the conviction and salvation of others. And his name — He himself, his power and love; through faith in his name — A confidence in him, a dependance on him, a believing application to him, and expectation of power to proceed from him; hath made this man strong — Hath effected a perfect cure of his lameness. Dr. Lightfoot suggests, that faith is twice named in this verse, because of the apostles’ faith in working this miracle, and the cripple’s faith in receiving it. But it seems to relate chiefly, if not only, to the former: they that wrought this miracle by faith, derived power from Christ to work it, and, therefore, returned all the glory to him. By this true and just account of the miracle, Peter both confirmed the great gospel truth they were to preach to the world, that Jesus Christ is the fountain of all power and grace, and the great Healer and Saviour; and recommended the great gospel mystery of our salvation by Christ. It is his name that justifies us, that glorious name of his, the Lord our righteousness; but we, in particular, are justified by that name, through faith in it, applying it to ourselves. Thus doth Peter preach unto them Jesus and him crucified, being a faithful friend of the bridegroom, to whose service he devoted all his interest. Acts 3:13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. Acts 3:14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; Acts 3:15 And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. Acts 3:16 And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Acts 3:17 And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it , as did also your rulers. Acts 3:17-18 . And now, brethren — A word full of courtesy and compassion; I wot — That is, I know: here he speaks to their hearts; that through ignorance ye did it — Which lessened, though it could not annihilate, the guilt of your conduct; as did also your rulers — The prejudice lying from the authority of the chief priests and elders, he here endeavours to remove, but with great tenderness. He does not call them our, but your rulers. For as the Jewish dispensation ceased at the death of Christ, consequently so did the authority of its rulers. This was the language of Peter’s charity, and it teaches us to make the best of those whom we desire to make better: not to aggravate, but, as far as may be, to extenuate their faults or sins. Perhaps Peter perceived, by the countenances of his hearers, that they were struck with great horror at being informed that they had murdered the Messiah, the Prince of life, and that they were ready either to sink down in distress, or to fly off; and, therefore, he saw it needful to mitigate the rigour of his charge, that he might prevent their utterly despairing. He had searched the wound to the bottom, and now begins to think of healing it: in order to which it was necessary to beget in them a good opinion of their physician. And in proceeding thus, he had the example of his Master to justify him, who prayed for his crucifiers, and pleaded in their behalf, that they knew not what they did. And it is said of the rulers, that they would not have crucified the Lord of glory, if they had known him, 1 Corinthians 2:8 . Doubtless many of the rulers, and of the people, in crucifying Christ, rebelled against the light and the convictions of their own consciences, influenced by envy and malice; but the generality, probably, were carried down the stream, and acted as they did through ignorance, as Paul persecuted the church ignorantly and in unbelief, 1 Timothy 1:13 . But those things, &c. — But God permitted this that you have done, and overruled it for wise and gracious purposes; for he hath thus fulfilled what he had before showed by the mouth of all his prophets — Had plainly foretold in the various ages of the world; that Christ should suffer — As an atoning sacrifice for the sins of mankind. Now, though this was no extenuation at all of their sin, in hating and persecuting Christ unto death, yet it was an encouragement to them to repent, and hope for mercy upon their repentance; not only because, in general, God’s gracious designs were carried on by it, and thus it agrees with the encouragement Joseph gave to his brethren, when they thought their offence against him almost unpardonable, ( Genesis 50:15 ; Genesis 50:20 ,) but because, in particular, the sufferings and death of Christ were for the remission of sins, and the ground of that display of mercy he now encouraged them to hope for. Acts 3:18 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; Acts 3:19-21 . Repent ye, therefore, &c. — Let it, therefore, be your principal and immediate care to secure an interest in the benefits procured by his death; and in order thereto, repent of this and all your other iniquities; and be converted — That is, be turned from sin and Satan to God, (chap. Acts 26:20 ,) in the way of sincere and universal obedience. The term, converted, so common in modern writings, rarely occurs in Scripture, at least in the sense we now use it, for an entire change of heart and life. That your sins may be blotted out — That you may be delivered from the heavy burden of your guilt, and may obtain peace with God through the sacrifice and intercession of him you crucified; when the times of refreshing shall come — Rather, that they may come; times when God shall largely bestow his refreshing grace; from the presence of the Lord — To you also. To others, those times will assuredly come, whether ye repent or not. Erasmus and Piscator render this clause, Seeing times of refreshment are come; but the authorities produced in favour of this version seem not sufficient to justify it. The blotting out of the sins of penitents, however, was not deferred to any distant time, and divine refreshment would, no doubt, immediately follow a sense of pardon to them, attended with a lively hope of eternal felicity to succeed in due time. But “the following clause seems to intimate, that Peter apprehended the conversion of the Jews, as a people, would be attended with some extraordinary scene of prosperity and joy, and would open a speedy way to Christ’s descent from heaven, in order to the restitution of all things.” — Doddridge. And he shall send — Greek, ??? ????????? , and that he may send; Jesus — That, in consequence of your complying with this important counsel, you may not only be received to all the joys of a state of pardon and acceptance with God, but he may, at length, send unto you Christ, which before was preached unto you — By his disciples, both before and since his resurrection. But Tertullian, and several of the fathers, in quoting this passage, instead of ??????????????? , before preached, read, ???????????????? , before appointed; that is, exhibited and set forth in a variety of types, and other symbols, namely, under the Old Testament dispensation, as the great Saviour of lost sinners. 1st, You shall have Christ in his spiritual presence; he that was sent into the world shall be sent to you, in and by his Spirit accompanying his word. The apostle meant, 2d, That God would send Christ to destroy the unbelieving and persecuting Jews, the enemies of God and his truth and cause, and so would deliver his true servants, both ministers and people, and give them a quiet possession of the gospel, with its privileges and blessings, which would be a time of refreshing to all that received it. For then had the churches rest, Acts 9:31 . So Dr. Hammond. There is also, 3dly, A reference in these words to the general conversion of the Jews, to take place after the fulness of the Gentiles is brought in, of which there are many express predictions and promises in the writings of the prophets, which, when it takes place, will be a time of refreshment indeed, both to them and the whole Church of Christ through all the world. Whom the heavens must receive — Whom you must not expect to appear immediately in person among you, for as he has ascended to heaven, he must remain there, until the times of restitution of all things — The long- expected happy times, when God will rectify all the seeming irregularities of his present dispensations, and make the cause of righteousness and truth for ever triumphant and glorious: which God hath spoken of, &c. — That is, concerning which great events (namely, that such a Saviour should be raised up, and should at length extend his righteous reign over all the world) God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets — That is, by the mouth of the generality of them; for the word ?????? , all, is not found in some of the best MSS. and versions; since the world began — Since the beginning of time. See note on Luke 1:70 , where the same original phrase, ?? ’ ?????? , occurs. In these times of restitution, the apostle here comprises at once the whole course of the time of the New Testament between our Lord’s ascension and his coming to glory. The most eminent of these times are the apostolic age, and that of the spotless church, which will consist of all the Jews and Gentiles united, after all persecutions and apostacies are at an end. It is well known that Dr. Thos. Burnet, Mr. Whiston, and some other learned writers, have urged this text in proof of a restoration of a paradisiacal state of the earth, which they have endeavoured to show will take place, but certainly without any clear warrant from Scripture; and this passage, in particular, may be so well explained of regulating the present disorders of the moral world, and the seeming inequalities of God’s providential dispensations, that it can with no propriety be pleaded in vindication of such an hypothesis. Acts 3:20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Acts 3:21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. Acts 3:22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. Acts 3:22-23 . For Moses — The first of these prophets, whose writings have come down to us; truly said unto the fathers — In his early days; A prophet shall the Lord raise up unto you — Namely, in after times; of your brethren — Of the posterity of Jacob; (see the note on Deuteronomy 18:15 ;) like unto me — And that in many particulars. Moses instituted the Jewish Church: Christ instituted the Christian. With the prophesying of Moses was soon joined the effect, the deliverance of Israel from Egypt: with the prophesying of Christ, that grand effect, the deliverance of his people from sin and death. Those who could not bear the voice of God, yet desired to hear that of Moses: much more do those who are wearied with the law, desire to hear the voice of Christ. Moses spake to the people all and only those things which God commanded him: so did Christ. Some other instances of similarity between Moses and Jesus, mentioned by the late Mr. Fletcher, in his letters to Dr. Priestley, are as follows: “Was the son of Amram saved in his infancy from the cruelty of a jealous tyrant, who had doomed him to die with a multitude of other children? So was the son of Mary. Was Moses the lawgiver of the Jews? So is Christ the legislator of the Christians. Was Moses remarkable for his meekness? So was He who says, Learn of me, for I am meek in heart. Both, being appointed as mediating prophets, stood in the gap to turn away the wrath of Heaven from a guilty people. Both, as shepherds of the Lord, led his straying sheep through a wilderness to a delightful land. Did Moses smite Pharaoh, king of Egypt; Sihon, king of the Amorites; and Og, king of Bashan? so will Christ wound kings in the day of his wrath. Did Moses heal the dying Israelites, by lifting up the serpent in the wilderness? so Christ heals believers, by being lifted up on the cross. Did Moses fast forty days, and receive the law on mount Sinai? so did Jesus fast forty days, and deliver his law on a mountain of Galilee. Was Moses rejected and almost stoned by the Israelites? so was Christ, by the Jews. Did Moses despise the glory of Egypt, that he might suffer for, and with, the people of God? so did our Lord despise all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, that he might suffer for, and with, his people. In a word, Is Moses the great prophet of the Old Testament? so is Christ of the New.” But, though Christ was like Moses in these respects, yet was he infinitely superior to him in person as well as in office: he was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, as the author of the epistle to the Hebrews asserts, ( Hebrews 3:3-6 ,) especially on two capital accounts: “1st, Moses was faithful as a servant in the house of him who had appointed him: but Christ was faithful as a Son over his own house. 2d, Moses was worthy of glory, inasmuch as he was a fundamental stone in the house of God; but Christ is worthy of more glory, inasmuch as he who builded the house hath more honour than the house, or any part of it; for every house is built by some man, but he who builded the Jewish Church, and all things, which Christ did, ( John 1:3 ; Colossians 1:16 ,) is God.” See Fletcher’s Works, vol. 4. pp. 517, 518, Amer. 8vo. edit. Him shall ye hear — Him shall ye regard with obedient reverence; in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you — Persuaded of the certain truth and infinite importance of his doctrine; and every soul that will not hear that Prophet — And be directed by his words; shall be destroyed from among the people — Shall be made an example of the severest punishment, due to so much aggravated and ungrateful rebellion. One cannot imagine a more masterly address than this, to warn the Jews of the dreadful consequence of their infidelity, in the very words of their favourite prophet, out of a pretended zeal for whom they had rejected Christ. Acts 3:23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Acts 3:24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. Acts 3:24-26 . Yea, and all the prophets — That succeeded Moses, particularly from Samuel, have likewise foretold these days — The days of the Messiah, which, by the singular favour of God to you, ye are now so happy as to see. Ye are the children of the prophets — You are the descendants of that people, among whom the prophets were raised up, and to whom the prophets were sent. Those of the latter ages of the Jewish Church, when prophecy had ceased, yet might be fitly, in general, called the children of the prophets, because they heard, though they did not know, the voices of the prophets, which were read in their synagogues every sabbath day; chap. Acts 13:27 . Now this ought to have quickened them to embrace Christ, their own prophets having foretold that this grace should be brought unto them in his days, ( 1 Peter 1:10 ,) and therefore ought not to be neglected by them. And of the covenant which God made with our fathers — As children in the family. God’s covenant was made with Abraham and his seed; and they were that seed, and on them, therefore, the blessings of the covenant were entailed. As if the apostle had said, The promise of the Messiah was made to you, and therefore, if you forsake not your own mercies, and do not, by obstinate infidelity, lay an insuperable obstruction in your own way, you may confidently hope to be put in possession of them: saying to Abraham, In thy seed, &c. — This promise, though referring principally to Christ, ( Galatians 3:16 ,) yet respects the church also, which is his body, even all believers, that are the spiritual seed of Abraham. Unto you first — You Jews, though not to you only; God having raised up his Son Jesus — From the loins of that pious patriarch, or having appointed and authorized him to be a Prince and a Saviour; and in confirmation thereof, having raised him from the dead; sent him to bless you — With the greatest of all blessings; in turning every one of you from his iniquities — In saving you from the guilt and power of your sins, and from the misery consequent thereon. To explain this more fully: 1st, God raised up his Son Jesus, when he constituted him a prophet, owned him by a voice from heaven, filled him with his Spirit without measure, and then sent him to bear witness to the truth, and to seek and save lost souls. He raised him up more especially when he brought him back from the dead by a glorious resurrection, which was the first step toward his exaltation, and, as it were, the renewing of his commission. And though, having thus raised him up, he seemed presently to take him from his people, yet he did really send him afresh to them, in his gospel and Spirit. 2d, The apostle says, God sent him to the Jews first, because the personal ministry of Christ, as that of the prophets, was confined to them; and after his resurrection, though he was to be preached, indeed, by his apostles to all nations, yet they were to begin at Jerusalem, Luke 24:47 ; and when they went to other nations, they always first preached to the Jews they found there. The Jews, therefore, were so far from being excluded for having crucified Christ, that when he was risen he was first sent to them, and they were primarily intended to have benefit by his death. Indeed, had not the gospel been everywhere first offered to them, their prejudices would have been so heightened and confirmed, that, in all probability, many, who were converted in this method, would have been exasperated and lost. It must be observed, however, that when the apostle says to these Jews, God sent his Son to bless you, he speaks conditionally, as the event showed with respect to many of them, on whom the divine wrath and curse came, and not the blessing here spoken of; namely, because they rejected the counsel of God against themselves. Many commentators, therefore, give this sentence a different turn, rendering the last clause, upon your turning every one of you, &c., or, every one of you turning, &c. That is, “all those of you who turn from sin shall be entitled to his blessing.” And this is agreeable to the Syriac rendering, if you are converted, and repent of your sins. But the former seems the preferable reading, as the great gospel blessing is, to be turned from our iniquities, or to be converted from sin to righteousness. Nor can it be any reasonable objection to say, that Christ did not in fact turn every one of the Jews from their iniquities, since it must be allowed that he did every thing that was necessary in order thereto; yea, every thing except depriving them of their liberty of choice and action, and turning them into mere machines. He procured for them, and offered to them, and that sincerely and repeatedly, yea, continually during his own personal ministry, and afterward by his divinely-commissioned apostles, grace sufficient to enable them to turn from their iniqui

Expositors

Expositor's Bible Commentary Acts 3:1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour . Chapter 8 THE FIRST MIRACLE. Acts 3:1-6 THE Acts of the Apostles considered as the first history of the Church may be viewed as typical of all ecclesiastical history. It is in this respect a microcosm wherein, on a small scale, we see represented the triumphs and the mistakes, the strength and the weakness, of God’s elect people throughout all the ages. Thus in the incident before us, embracing the whole of the third chapter and the greater portion of the fourth, we have set forth a victory of the Apostles, their subsequent persecution, together with the blessing and strength vouchsafed in and through that persecution. The time of these events cannot be fixed with any great exactness. They occurred probably within a few weeks or months of the day of Pentecost. That is the nearest we can approach to a precise date. There seems indeed to have been a pause after the excitement and success of Pentecost, and for this we think that we can see a good reason. The Apostles must have had plenty to do with the vast multitude gathered upon the day of Pentecost, striving to lead them into a fuller knowledge of the faith. We are apt to imagine at first sight that supernatural enlightenment was vouchsafed to these earliest converts, superseding any necessity for careful and patient instruction, so that upon their baptism the whole work was completed. But when we reflect upon other cases in the New Testament, we can easily see that the three thousand souls converted by St. Peter’s speech must have needed and received a great-deal of teaching. The Church of Corinth was one of St. Paul’s own founding, and upon it he lavished careful attention for a year and a half; yet we see from his Epistles to the Corinthians how much guidance was needed by them even in elementary questions of morals, how rapidly the Church fell into grossest license when deprived of his personal ministrations. Theophilus again, to whom the Acts were addressed by St. Luke, is reminded, in the preface of the Gospel, of the catechetical instruction in Christian truth which he had received. Assuredly, then, the small band of the twelve Apostles and their few male assistants must have had their hands full enough for many weeks after Pentecost, endeavouring to give their converts such an insight into the great principles of the faith as would enable them to carry back to their various distant homes a competent knowledge of the laws and doctrines of the new dispensation. A few moments’ reflection will show that the newly baptised had much to learn about Christ, -the facts of His life, His doctrines, sacraments, the constitution of His Church, and the position allotted to the Apostles, -before they could be considered sufficiently rooted and grounded in the faith. And if this was so with converts from Judaism, then how much more must such careful instruction after baptism have been found needful in the case of the Gentiles when the time came for their admission? Much preparatory work had been done for the Jews by their Old Testament training. They had not much to learn from the Apostles in practical morality; they had a right conception of God, His character, and His service. But as for the Pagans, their whole intellectual and spiritual life, all their notions and conceptions about God, and life, and morals, were all hopelessly wrong. The Apostles and the earliest teachers had then, and missionaries amongst the heathen have still, to make a clearance of the whole pagan ground, laying a new foundation, and erecting thereon a new structure, intellectual, moral, and spiritual. St. Paul recognised the vast importance of such diligent pastoral work and catechetical training after baptism when writing his pastoral Epistles, because bitter experience had taught him their value. At Corinth for more than two years, and at Ephesus for three years, he had laboured diligently in building up his converts. And notwithstanding all his exertions, how quickly the Corinthians fell away into pagan habits of unbridled license as soon as he left them! The Acts of the Apostles, by this pause in evangelistic work which we here trace, strikes a note of warning concerning the future missionary work of the Church, speaking clearly about the necessity of diligent pastoral care, and prophesying of the certain relapses into wild excesses which may be expected to occur among those who have only bean just rescued from the mire of paganism. This is one explanation of the pause in apostolic work we here seem to perceive. Again, the analogy of the faith, the laws of human nature, suggest the need of a period of restful calm after the Pentecostal excitement, and previous to any new and successful advance. So it has been in God’s dealing in the past. The excitement connected with the first attempts made by Moses to rescue his people was followed by the forty years’ exile in Midian, which again led to their triumphant rescue from bondage. Elijah’s victory over Jezebel and her idol priests was followed by the retreat of forty days to Horeb. The excitement of our Lord’s baptism was succeeded by the forty days’ fast in the wilderness. The human mind cannot be ever on the strain. Excitement must be followed by repose, or else the course of action adopted will be hurried, imperfect, transient in its results. The works of God in nature are never such. As a modern poet has nobly sung- "One lesson, Nature, let me learn of thee; One lesson which in every wind is blown; One lesson of two duties kept at one, Though the loud world proclaim their enmity"; - "Of toil unsever’d from tranquillity; Of labour, that in lasting fruit outgrows Far noisier schemes, accomplished in repose, Too great for haste, too high for rivalry." There are great calm and dignity in nature; and there were great calm and dignity in grace when God was laying the foundations of His kingdom by the hands of His Apostles. There never was an age which more needed this lesson of nature and grace alike than this nineteenth century. The religion of the age has been infected by the Spirit of the world, and men think that the fortresses of sin and ignorance will fall, provided there be used a sufficient quantity of noise, of puffing, and of excitement. I do not wish to find the slightest fault with energetic action. The Church of Christ has been in the past perhaps a little too dignified in its methods and operations. It has hesitated, where St. Paul never would have hesitated, to adapt itself to changed circumstances, and has ofttimes refused, like a timorous lawyer, to venture on some new and untried sphere because there was no precedent. The Reformers and their first followers were an illustration of this. The utter lack of missionary spirit and effort among the Reformers is one of the darkest blots upon their history. How sadly they contrast with the Jesuit Society, which started into existence at the same period of the world’s history. No one is more keenly alive to the faults and shortcomings of that world-renowned Society than I am, yet I heartily admire the energy and devotion with which, from its earliest days, the Society of Jesus flung itself into missionary work, endeavouring to repair the losses which the Papacy sustained in Europe by fresh conquests in India, China, and America. The Reformers were so busy in bitter controversies among themselves, and so intent upon endeavouring to fathom God’s decrees and purposes, that they forgot the primary duty of the Church to spread the light and truth which it has received; they were deficient in Christian energy, and thus brought upon themselves the blight and curse of spiritual barrenness. Controversy evermore brings with it the desolation of spiritual leanness. Men cease to really believe in a religion which they only know upon paper, and only think of as a thing to be discussed. Living contact with human souls and human wants saves religion, because it translates it from a mere dead dogma into a living fact. A man who has come to doubt doctrinal statements which he has never verified, will be brought back to faith by the irresistible evidence of sinful lives changed and broken hearts comforted. The Church of England has again and again manifested this spirit. In Ireland she refused to give the nation the Liturgy and the Bible in the Irish tongue. In Wales she hesitated in condescending to vulgar wants, and long refused to bestow a native episcopate upon the Celts of England, because the evil tradition of centuries, down from the age of the Norman conquest, had ordained that no Welshman should be a bishop. But still, while I am opposed to the Church binding itself in fetters of that kind, I am equally of opinion that there is a middle course between dignified idleness and extravagant carnal sensationalism. I have heard efforts advocated for home missionary work which, I am sure, would never have met with the approbation of the first missionaries of the Cross. The Church must be energetic, but the Church need not adopt the methods of quack medicine-sellers, or of the strolling circus. Such methods were not unknown in the primitive ages of the Church. The preachers of the Stoic philosophy strove in the second century to counteract the efforts of the Christian Church by reforming paganism, and by preaching it vigorously. They adopted every means to attract the public attention and interest-eccentricity, vulgarity, coarseness; and yet they failed, and were defeated by a society which trusted, not in human devices and carnal forces, but in the supernatural power of God the Holy Ghost. The Montanists again, towards the close of the second century, fell into the same error. The Montanists are in many respects one of the most interesting of the early Christian sects. They tried to retain the customs and the spirit of apostolic Christianity, but they mistook the true methods of action. They confounded physical excitement with spiritual fervour, and strove by weird dances and strange cries, borrowed from the pagans of the Phrygian mountains, to bind to themselves the sweet influences of the Heavenly Comforter. The Church of that period diligently avoided the error of pagan Stoics and of Christian schismatics. As it was in the second century, so was it just after Pentecost. The Church followed close upon its Master’s footsteps, of whom it was said, "He shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets," and developed in quietness and retirement the spiritual life of the thousands who had crowded into the door of faith which Peter had opened. Again there is a lesson in this period of pause and seclusion, not merely for the Church in its corporate capacity, but for individual souls. The spirit of interior sanctity is nourished most chiefly during such times of retirement and obscurity. Obscurity has indeed many advantages when viewed from the standpoint of the spiritual life. Publicity and high station and multiplicity of affairs bring with them many disadvantages. They deprive us of that peace and calm which enable a man to contrast the things of time with those of eternity, and to value them in their true light. Over-activity, fussiness, even in the most spiritual matters, is a dire enemy of true heart belief, and therefore of true strength of spirit. The Master Himself felt it so. There were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. Then it was He said, "Come ye into the desert, that ye may rest awhile." The excitement and strain of Pentecost, and all the subsequent efforts which Pentecost entailed, must have told seriously upon the Apostles, and so they imitated the Master, that they might renew their exhausted vigour at its primal fountain. How many a man, busy in missions, or preaching, or the thousand other forms which evangelistic and religious work now takes, would be infinitely better if this apostolic lesson were duly learned. How many a terrible scandal has arisen simply from a disregard and contempt for it. If men will think they can labour, as this passage shows the Apostles could not, without thought and reflection, and interior communion with God; if they will spend all their strength in external effort and never make time and secure seasons for spiritual replenishment, they may create much noise for a time, but their toil will be fruitless, and if they are saved themselves it will only be as by fire. The period of retirement and obscurity came, however, to an end at last. The Apostles never intended to form an order purely contemplative. Such an idea, in fact, never could have entered into the mind of one of those early Christians. They remembered that their Master had expressly said, "Ye are the salt of the earth," and salt is useless if kept stored up in a vessel by itself, and never applied to any object where its curative properties might have free scope. When the spirit of Eastern gnosticism, springing from the dualism of Persia, invaded the Church, and gained a permanent hold within it, then men began to despise their bodies and life, and all that life entails. Like Eastern fanatics, they desired to abstract themselves as much as possible from the things and duties of the present, and they invented, or rather adopted from the farther East, purely contemplative orders, which spent useless lives, striving, like their prototypes of India, to rise superior to the positions which God had assigned them. Such were not the Apostles. They used rest, contemplation-they did not abuse them; and when their tone and power were restored, they issued forth again upon the field of religious activity, and joined in the public worship of the crowd. "Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour." The action of Peter and John in thus frequenting the temple worship gives us a glimpse into the state of feeling and thought which prevailed then and for a great many years after in the Church of Jerusalem. The Church of that city naturally clung longest of all to the old Jewish connection. Eusebius, in his "Ecclesiastical History" (4:5), tells us that the first fifteen bishops of Jerusalem were Hebrews, and that all the members of the Church were Hebrews too. It was only, in fact, upon the final destruction of Jerusalem, which happened under Hadrian, after the rebellion of Barcochba, A.D. 135, that the Church of Jerusalem shook itself completely free from the trammels of Judaism. But in those earliest days of the Church the Apostles naturally could not recognise the course of the Divine development. They cherished the notion that Judaism and Christianity would be found compatible the one with the other. They had not yet recognised what St. Stephen first of all, and then St. Paul, and most chiefly the author of the Hebrews, came to recognise, that Judaism and Christianity as full-blown systems were absolutely antagonistic; that the Jewish dispensation was obsolete, antiquated, and must utterly fade before a nobler dispensation that was once for all to take its place. It is hard for us to realise the feelings of the Apostles at this great transition epoch, and yet it is well for us to do so, because their conduct is full of lessons specially suited for seasons of transition. The Apostles never seem to me more clearly under the direction of the Divine Spirit than in their whole course of action at this time. They proceeded in faith, but not in haste. They held firmly to the truths they had gained, and they waited patiently upon God, till the course of His providence showed them how to co-ordinate the old system with the new truths, -until He had taught them what parts of the ancient covenant should be dropped and what retained. Their conduct has instruction very suitable for the present age, when God is giving His Church fresh light on many a question through the investigations of science. Well, indeed, will it be for Christian people to have their hearts grounded, as the Apostles’ were, in a spirit of Divine love, knowing personally in whom they have believed; and then, strong in that inner revelation of God to the spirit, which surpasses in might and power all other evidences, they may patiently wait the evolution of His purposes. The prophetic declaration is true for every age, "He that believeth will not make haste." The circumstances of the first apostolic miracle were simple enough. Peter and John were going up into the temple at the hour of the evening sacrifice. They were entering the temple by the gate well known to all dwellers at Jerusalem as the Beautiful Gate, and there they met the cripple whom they healed in the name and by the power of Jesus of Nazareth. The spot where this miracle was performed was familiar to the Jews of that day, though its precise locality is still a matter of controversy. Some hold that this Beautiful Gate was one described by Josephus in his "Wars of the Jews" (5:5, 3) as surpassingly splendid, being composed of Corinthian brass, and called the Gate of Nicanor. Others think that it was the gate Shushan, which stood in the neighbourhood of Solomon’s Porch; while others identify it with the gate Chulda, which led into the court of the Gentiles. It was most probably the first of these which was situated on the eastern side of the outermost court of the temple, looking towards the valley of Kedron. Here was gathered a crowd of beggars, such as then frequented the temples of the pagans as well as of the Jews, and such as still throng the approaches of Eastern and many Western churches. Out of this crowd one man addressed Peter and John, asking an alms. This man was well known to the regular worshippers in the temple. He was a cripple, and one long accustomed to haunt the same spot, for he was above forty years old. Peter replied to his prayer in the well-known words, "Silver and gold have I none, but what I have, that give I thee. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, walk"; and then he performed one of the few miracles ascribed to the direct action of St. Peter. Here it may be asked, Why was this miracle of healing the cripple at the temple gate the only one recorded of those earliest signs and wonders wrought by apostolic hands? The answer seems to be threefold: this miracle was typical of the Church’s future work; it was the occasion of St. Peter’s testimony before the Sanhedrin; and it led up to the first persecution which the Jewish authorities raised against the Church. Viewing the Acts of the Apostles as a type of what all Church history was to be, and a Divine exposition of the principles which should guide the Church in times of suffering as well as in times of action, we can see good and solid reasons for the insertion of this particular narrative. First, then, this miracle was typical of the Church’s work, for it was a beggar that was healed, and this beggar lay helpless and hopeless at the very doors of the temple. The beggar typified humanity at large. He was laid, indeed, in a splendid position, -before him was extended the magnificent panorama of hills which stood round about Jerusalem; above him rose the splendours of the building upon which the Herods had lavished the riches and wonders of their gorgeous conceptions, -but he was nothing the better for all this material grandeur till touched by the power which lay in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And the beggar of the Beautiful Gate was in all these respects the fittest object for St. Peter’s earliest public miracle, because he was exactly typical of mankind’s state. Humanity, Jew and Gentile alike, lay at the very gate of God’s temple of the universe. Men could discourse learnedly, too, concerning that sanctuary, and they could admire its beauteous proportions. Poets, philosophers, and wise men had treated of the temple of the universe in works which can never be surpassed, but all the while they lay outside its sacred precincts. They had no power to stand up and enter in, leaping, and walking, and praising God. It is very important, in this age of material civilisation and of intellectual advance, that the Church should insist vigorously upon the great truth taught by this miracle. The age of the Incarnation must have seemed to the men of that time the very acme of civilisation and of knowledge; and yet the testimony of all history and of all literature is that just then mankind was in the most deplorable state of moral and spiritual degradation. The witness of St. Paul in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans is amply borne out by the testimony, conscious and unconscious, of pagan antiquity. A writer of the last century, now to a great extent forgotten, Dr. Leland by name, investigated this point in the fullest manner in his great work on the necessity of a Divine revelation, demonstrating that mankind, even when highly civilised, educated, cultured, lies like a beggar at the door of the temple, till touched by the hand and power of the Incarnate God. This miracle of healing the beggar was typical of the Church’s work again, because it was a beggar who thus received a blessing when the Church roused itself to the discharge of its great mission. The first man healed and benefited by St. Peter was a poor man, and the Church’s work has ever led her to deal with the poor, and to interest herself most keenly in their wellbeing. This first miracle is typical of Christian work, because Christianity is essentially the religion of the masses. At times, indeed, Christian teachers may have seemed to rank themselves on the side of power and riches alone; but then men should take good care to distinguish between the inconsistent conduct of Christian teachers and the essential principles of Christianity. The founder of Christianity was a carpenter, and its earliest benediction pronounced the blessedness of those that are poor in spirit, and ever since the greatest triumphs of Christianity have been gained amongst the poor. Christian hagiology, Christian legend, and Christian history alike, have combined to attest this truth. The Church calendar is decorated with lists of saints, some of them of very doubtful character, while others of them have stories connected with their careers full of meaning and rich with lessons for this generation. Thus, for instance, October 25th is the feast of a martyr, St. Crispin, from whom the great trade of shoemakers is designated. "The sons of St. Crispin" is a title going back to the earliest ages of the Church’s love. St. Crispin was a Roman senator, brought up and nourished amid all that luxury with which pagan Rome surrounded the children of the highest classes. Crispin became acquainted with the faith of the followers of the Carpenter of Nazareth amid the dire persecutions which marked the final struggle between Christianity and paganism under the Emperor Diocletian during the earliest years of the fourth century. He was baptised, and feeling that a life of gilded idleness was inconsistent with his Master’s example, he resigned his place, position, and property, retired into Gaul, and there devoted himself to the trade of shoemaking, as being one which could be exercised in great quietness. Manual toil was at that time considered an occupation fitted only for slaves, for we ought never to forget that the dignity of labour is no human invention, nor is it part of the religions of nature. Nay, rather, the dignity of idleness was the doctrine of Greek and Roman paganism. St. Crispin recognised the great law of labour taught by Christ and taught by His Apostles, and became the most successful of shoemakers, preaching at the same time the gospel with such success that the persecutors selected him as one of their earliest victims in that district of Gaul where he resided. It has been just the same in every age. The true power of the Church has been ever displayed in preaching the gospel to the children of toil. An interesting example of this may be gathered from an age which we are apt to think specially dark. In mediaeval times the secular or parochial clergy became very lax and careless throughout these islands. The mendicant friars, the followers of St. Francis, came and settled everywhere in the slums of the great towns, devoting themselves to the work of preaching to the poor. And they speedily attained a marvellous power over men. The Franciscans in the thirteenth century were exactly like the early Methodists in the last century. Both societies placed their chapels among the abodes of want; there they laboured, and there they triumphed, because they worked in the spirit and power indicated by this first recorded miracle of the beggar healed at the temple gate. It will be a bad day for religion and for society when the Church ceases to be the Church and champion of the weak, the downtrodden, the destitute. Here, however, lies a danger. Its work in this direction must be done in no one-sided spirit. Christianity must never adopt the language or the tone of the mere agitator. I fear that some who now pose as specially the champions of the poor are missing that spirit of mental balance and fairness which will alone enable them to be Christian champions, because seeking to do justice unto all men. It is easy enough to flatter any class, rich or poor; and it is specially tempting to do so when the class so flattered chances to hold the reins of political power. It is very hard to render to all their due, shrinking not from telling the truth, even when unpleasant, and reproving the faults of those whose side we favour. A Christianity which triumphs through appeals to popular prejudices, and seeks a mere temporary advantage by riding on the crest of popular ignorance, is not the religion taught by Christ and His Apostles. But yet, again, the conversion of this beggar was effected through his healing; and here we see a type of the Church’s future work. The Church, then, as represented by the Apostles, did not despise the body, or regard efforts after bodily blessing as beneath its dignity. Spiritual work went hand in hand with healing power. This has been a lesson which Christian people, at home and abroad, have been slow enough to learn. The whole principle, for instance, of medical missions is covered by this action on the part of the Apostles. For a long time the Church thought it was its solitary duty to preach the gospel by word of mouth, and it has only been in comparatively modern days that men have learned that one of the most powerful means of preaching the gospel was the exercise of the healing art; for surely if the gift of healing, conveyed from God by supernatural means, could be an effective help towards evangelistic work, the same gift of healing, conveyed from precisely the same source by natural channels indeed, but channels none the less truly Divine, can still be effective to the same great end. The Church should count no human interest beyond its sway, and should take the keenest interest and claim a living share in every portion of life’s work. At home or abroad the bodies of men are under her care as well as their souls, because bodies as well as souls have been redeemed by Jesus Christ, and both alike await their perfection and glorification through Jesus Christ. Schools, hospitals, sanitary and medical science, the dwellings and amusements of the people, trade, commerce, all should be the care of the Church, and should be based on Christ’s law, and carried out on Christian principles. The Incarnation of Christ has given a deeper meaning that he ever dreamt of to the pagan poet’s words, - "Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto." We think, furthermore, that this miracle has been divinely recorded because it was the occasion of St. Peter’s testimony both to the people and to their rulers. Let us strive to realise the circumstances and the locality. Peter and John, going up to the temple, met this impotent beggar at the entrance to the Court of the Women, into which the Beautiful Gate led. Our modern notions about churches confuse all true conceptions concerning the temple. The vast majority of people, when they think of the temple, form to themselves an idea of a vast cathedral, when they ought instead to think of a large college, with square succeeding square and court following court. As Peter and John ascended the temple hill they came first to the Court of the Gentiles, which served as a market and in which a crowd of mendicants were assembled to solicit alms. Out of this Court of the Gentiles the Beautiful Gate led into the Court of the Women, which was reserved for the ordinary religious offices of the Jewish people. One of the beggars addressed the Apostles, soliciting a gift; whereupon the Apostles worked the miracle of healing. Upon this a crowd collected, attracted by the excited conduct of the man who had received such an unexpected blessing. They ran together after the manner of all crowds which assemble so easily and so rapidly in a city, and then hurrying into the cloister called Solomon’s Porch, which was a remnant of the ancient temple, heard the address of St. Peter. It must have been a spot filled with cherished memories for the Apostle. Every Jew naturally venerated this cloister, because it was Solomon’s; just as men in the grandest modern cathedral still love to point out the smallest relic of the original structure out of which the modern building new. At San Clemente, in Rome, the priests delight to show the primitive structure where they say St. Clement ministered about the year A.D. 100 At York the vergers will indicate far down in the crypt the fragments of the earliest Saxon church, which once stood where that splendid cathedral now rears its lofty arches. So, too, the Jews naturally cherished this link of continuity between the ancient and the modern temples. But for St. Peter this Solomon’s Porch must have had special memories over. and above the patriotic ideas that were linked with it. He could not forget that the very last feast of the Dedication which the Master had seen on earth, He walked in this porch, and there in His conversation with the Jews claimed an equality with the Father which led them to make an attempt on His life. Here, then, it was that within twelve months the Apostle Peter makes a similar claim on his Master’s behalf, in a discourse which extends from the twelfth to the twenty-sixth verse of the third chapter. That discourse has two distinct divisions. It sets forth, first, the claims, dignity, and nature of Christ, and then makes a personal appeal to the men of Jerusalem. St. Peter begins his sermon with an act of profound self-renunciation. When the Apostle saw the people running together, he answered and said, "Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we made this man to walk?" The same spirit of renunciation appears at an earlier stage of the miracle. When the beggar solicited an alms, Peter said: "Silver and gold have I none: but what I have, that give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." One point is at once manifest when St. Peter’s conduct is compared with his Master’s under similar circumstances. St. Peter acts as a delegate and a servant; Jesus Christ acted as a principal, a master, -the Prince of Life, as St. Peter calls Him in the fifteenth verse of this third chapter. The distinction between the miracles of Christ and the miracles of the Apostles declares the New Testament conception of Christ’s dignity and person. Compare, for instance, the narrative of the healing of the impotent man at the Pool of Bethesda, told in the fifth chapter of St. John, with that of the healing of the impotent man laid at the temple gate. Christ said, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." He made no appeal, He used no prayer, He invoked no higher name. He simply spake and it was done. The Apostle Peter, the rock-man, the leader of the apostolic band, takes the greatest care to assure the multitude that he had himself neither power nor efficacy in this matter, and that all the power lay in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Now, leaving aside for the moment any question of the truth or reality of these two miracles, is it not manifest from these two parallel cases that the New Testament writings place Jesus Christ on an exalted standpoint far above that of any human being whatsoever; in a position, in fact, which from the boldness and magnificence of its claims can only be fitly described in the language of the Nicene Creed as "God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God." St. Peter’s words teach another lesson. They

Illustrator

Now Peter and John. Acts 3:1-11 Peter and John Dean Plumptre. The union of the two brings the narratives of the Gospels into an interesting connection with the Acts. They were probably about the same age (the idea that Peter was some years older than John rests mainly on the pictures which artists have drawn from their imagination, and has no evidence in Scripture), and had been friends from their youth upward. They had been partners as fishermen on the Sea of Galilee ( Luke 5:10 ). They had been sharers in looking for the consolation of Israel, and had together received the baptism of John ( John 1:41 ). John and Andrew had striven which should be the first to tell Peter that they had found the Christ ( John 1:41 ). The two had been sent together to prepare for the Passover ( Luke 22:8 ). John takes Peter into the palace of the high priest ( John 18:16 ), and though he must have witnessed his denials, is not estranged from him. It is to John that Peter turns for comfort after his fall, and with him he comes to the sepulchre on the morning of the resurrection ( John 20:6 ). The eager affection which, now more strongly than ever, bound the two together is seen in Peter's question, "Lord, and what shall this man do?" ( John 21:21 ); and now they are again sharers in action and in heart, in teaching and in worship. Passing rivalries there may have been, disputes which was the greatest, prayers for places on the right hand and the left ( Matthew 20:20 ; Mark 10:35 ); but the idea maintained by Renan, that St. John wrote his Gospel to exalt himself at the expense of Peter, must take its place among the delirantium somnia ; the morbid imaginations, of inventive interpretation. They appear in company again in the mission to Samaria ( Romans 8:14 ), and in recognising the work that had been done by Paul and Barnabas among the Gentiles ( Galatians 2:9 ). When it was that they parted never to meet again, we have no record. ( Dean Plumptre. )

Matthew Henry

3:1-11 The apostles and the first believers attended the temple worship at the hours of prayer. Peter and John seem to have been led by a Divine direction, to work a miracle on a man above forty years old, who had been a cripple from his birth. Peter, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, bade him rise up and walk. Thus, if we would attempt to good purpose the healing of men's souls, we must go forth in the name and power of Jesus Christ, calling on helpless sinners to arise and walk in the way of holiness, by faith in Him. How sweet the thought to our souls, that in respect to all the crippled faculties of our fallen nature, the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth can make us whole! With what holy joy and rapture shall we tread the holy courts, when God the Spirit causes us to enter therein by his strength! 3:12-18 Observe the difference in the manner of working the miracles. Our Lord always spoke as having Almighty power, never hesitated to receive the greatest honour that was given to him on account of his Divine miracles. But the apostles referred all to their Lord, and refused to receive any honour, except as his undeserving instruments. This shows that Jesus was one with the Father, and co-equal with Him; while the apostles knew that they were weak, sinful men, and dependent for every thing on Jesus, whose power effected the cure. Useful men must be very humble. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name, give glory. Every crown must be cast at the feet of Christ. The apostle showed the Jews the greatness of their crime, but would not anger or drive them to despair. Assuredly, those who reject, refuse, or deny Christ, do it through ignorance; but this can in no case be an excuse. 3:19-21 The absolute necessity of repentance is to be solemnly charged upon the consciences of all who desire that their sins may be blotted out, and that they may share in the refreshment which nothing but a sense of Christ's pardoning love can afford. Blessed are those who have felt this. It was not needful for the Holy Spirit to make known the times and seasons of these dispensations. These subjects are still left obscure. But when sinners are convinced of their sins, they will cry to the Lord for pardon; and to the penitent, converted, and believing, times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord. In a state of trial and probation, the glorified Redeemer will be out of sight, because we must live by faith in him. 3:22-26 Here is a powerful address to warn the Jews of the dreadful consequences of their unbelief, in the very words of Moses, their favourite prophet, out of pretended zeal for whom they were ready to reject Christianity, and to try to destroy it. Christ came into the world to bring a blessing with him. And he sent his Spirit to be the great blessing. Christ came to bless us, by turning us from our iniquities, and saving us from our sins. We, by nature cleave to sin; the design of Divine grace is to turn us from it, that we may not only forsake, but hate it. Let none think that they can be happy by continuing in sin, when God declares that the blessing is in being turned from all iniquity. Let none think that they understand or believe the gospel, who only seek deliverance from the punishment of sin, but do not expect happiness in being delivered from sin itself. And let none expect to be turned from their sin, except by believing in, and receiving Christ the Son of God, as their wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.